Formed in about 1965, the Motor City Five - soon shortened
to MC5 - began as yet another British Invasion-inspired teen combo, playing
at local teen dances and rehearsing in parents' homes in and around Lincoln
Park, in the Downriver suburbs of Detroit. What might at its inception
have seemed to be just another (but somewhat louder) garage band, MC5
would rapidly develop into one of the most aggressively talented groups
in the country - but also wanted by the law, boycotted and carrying a
reputation as being revolutionaries. All of this would be a few years
down the line, however; in 1965-66, MC5 played the same teen-dance circuit
as any other garage band in Detroit, with a blues-influenced rock set
peppered with the usual cover tunes of the day - though with astonishing
signs of a "heavier" sound than any other local contemporary.
Though the band's lineup differed in both its first
and final year, the members best-associated with the MC5 coalesced early
and are those who appear on the group's LPs: Rob Tyner on vocals, Fred
Smith and Wayne Kramer on guitars, Dennis Thompson on drums, and Michael
Davis on bass. The earliest recording of the young band, "I Can Only
Give You Everything"/"One
Of The Guys" (AMG
1001) was recorded at United Sound and Tera
Shirma studios in Detroit in quick day sessions. Both sides of that
single remain in print as part of the Alive/Total Energy CD '66 Breakout
(NER3023),
assembled by Kramer and offering a generous cross section of live tapes
from the same period, as well as the phenomenal studio track, "I
Just Don't Know."
Beginning about two years after the formation of the
band, the young MC5 would encounter early and important alliances in their
career via social and business relationships with poet and blues historian
John Sinclair, soon to become known for his revolutionary politics, as
well as with local impresario Russ Gibb; on the business side alone, each
would significantly affect the future of MC5. The group would record their
watershed "Looking
At You"/"Borderline"
single (A-Square333) with Kramer
in 1967. A truly legendary release of Michigan rock, this was the record
that first brought MC5 into prominence as a high-energy act to be reckoned
with, and the single remains amazing today, a document of a kinetic explosion. "It was more a visceral thing,"
Kramer recalled. "It had more to do with passion and commitment than
what it later becomes, this kind of cold, intellectual art influence.
I think what the MC5 did was qualified as art, but we had the emphasis
on sweat and meat, and not on intellectual posturing."
The MC5 had been developing a strong band of followers
at their live concerts at the same time the Detroit rock scene was turning
toward new sounds. The rock ballroom was becoming a focus for activity,
an ideal showcase for an ambitious band to play. Thompson recalled the
group's first meeting with Gibb, who would soon gain local prominence
with his Grande Ballroom, a model rock venue of the period and staging
ground for much of the 5's growth in popularity.

"When
we first met Gibb, we met him through John Sinclair and Wayne Kramer and
Rob Tyner, and the first time we met him was at the [Detroit] Artists'
Workshop."

For
his part, Gibb remembers seeing MC5 in Beatles-esque outfits upon their
first meeting, an example of how far the group had yet to travel stylistically.
Gibb had a notion to pattern the Grande
Ballroom after the Avalon and the Fillmore; as with those West Coast
venues, he wanted the Detroit venue to feature a group that could anchor
shows and open for visiting acts. Though the group would appear at a variety
of venues - from gymnasiums to teen clubs to armories - the Grande would
become closely associated with the band. The job would require some stamina,
as Thompson remembered.

"What
[Gibb] needed was a band that was willing to be the house band at the
Grande, more or less. Now, there was no money being generated at all in
the beginning because the growth of the Grande Ballroom was a very slow
process. I was still going to Wayne State to study engineering, and when
we'd go rehearse at the Grande - but the heat wasn't turned on because
Russ couldn't afford to pay the heating bill. So we had to wear our winter
coats to practice in." Becky Tyner, who had married Rob in 1966, recently
recalled the vocalist's introduction to Sinclair in about 1967, "I
think (Sinclair) was writing for the Fifth
Estate, and Rob kind of rebutted some of the things he was having
to say, and Rob became acquainted with John." By the late 1960s Sinclair was promoting himself
as a self-styled leader within the youth movement, similar to such other
mouthpieces as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Sinclair's vehicle was the
Trans-Love/White Panthers coalition, an ersatz multicultural experiment
that included at center the members of MC5, some along for the ride despite
differences with Sinclair's brand of politics. Though these Panthers were
advertised as an open, pro-equality aggregation, many women involved (including
Becky, one of those who designed stage costumes for the group) felt it
to be more of a boys' club atmosphere, and the distribution of wealth
was sometimes questioned. Sinclair's artistic talents and business acumen
certainly did provide a good match for the group, but other pursuits often
took precedence. Thompson noted fundamental disagreement with the politics
that distracted from the music that MC5 was striving to produce.

"I'll
tell you this personally: I was the only one in the band that resisted
the activities of Mr. Sinclair, because I did not want our band to be
involved in the politics. I don't want to wave the flag saying, 'Let's
go smoke marijuana, let's do LSD, let's fuck in the street.' That wasn't
the MC5. The real MC5 was about playing good rock'n'roll. Trying to be
better than The Who, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks together."

The
association with Sinclair led to MC5 being the only group to perform at
the ill-fated demonstration at the 1968
Democratic National Convention in Chicago, making a hasty exit just
before many in the crowd were brutally attacked by Chicago police. The
experience had a sobering effect upon the band and diminished some of
the revolutionary zeal in the Panthers camp as well.

"That
was the day the revolution ended," Thompson recalled. "We were
nonviolent. We had nothing to do with that. We wanted to be a good - a
very good - rock'n'roll band. That's all we wanted. But we hooked up with
Sinclair, and vis-à-vis Sinclair and his network of Jerry Rubin
and [others] became involved in politics. And unfortunately, that was
our demise, because politics - you can't play rock'n'roll and do music
and be at the head of the podium. You can't preach, be a preacher, or
neither can you be a politician. Music is an art form."

The
late 1960s were a time during which political commentaries by pop musicians
were actually given some press; regardless of the individual beliefs of
the members of MC5, the band was still associated by many with Sinclair
and his politics, with some seeing the 5 as musical
soldiers of the so-called "Movement." Pressure from the
police and other officials eventually drove MC5 and Sinclair from Detroit
to the more relaxed Ann Arbor. The suspicions of authority were well-founded,
but the popular image of the group was often embellished by Sinclair and
others. For the Downriver rock combo, the climb into controversy must
have seemed heady indeed, though audiences could be fickle: Polarized
audiences could be excited by the music but sometimes turned off by the
rhetoric of hangers-on.
The title of the song "Kick Out The Jams"
originated from MC5's exhortations to visiting English groups at the Grande
to put more energy into their performance, as the home team more often
than not would steal the show with their own brute power. The result of
an Elektra scouting trip to Michigan (which also netted the label The
Stooges), the live LP of the same title would be recorded on the final
two days of October 1968, the Zenta
New Year, at the Grande. The original
release of the LP included a gatefold cover, with essential liner
notes by Sinclair, as well as Tyner's uncut introduction to the title
cut ("Kick Out The Jams, Motherfuckers!"). Though the LP would
reach #30 on the charts, the diatribes of Sinclair and (especially) the
13-letter expletive found many retailers refusing to carry the record.
Elektra had to somehow salvage its investment, deciding to reedit the
track.
In a 1988 radio interview taped on the Sonic Rendezvous
show on the 20th anniversary of the Jams concert recording, Tyner told
host Steve Kostan of how Elektra attempted to dilute the lyric content,
regardless of the vocalist's disagreement over the issue.

"What
happened was, while I was doing some minor overdubs, they said 'While
you're doing this, Rob - just a favor - why don't you just for radio purposes...
why don't you just yell out, 'Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters?'
Next thing I know, they pulled off the original [version] and put on the
'brothers and sisters' thing, and then they took the liner notes off and
they stopped making the gatefold. What happened was, they were trying
to take the edge off the switchblade of rock'n'roll."

The
"Kick Out The Jams"/"Motor
City Is Burning" single (Elektra
45648) featured the censored version of the album's title song. Allegedly,
a record company executive had been the one to originally suggest the
group to use the unexpurgated introduction! (Oddly, it seems no one had
the notion to simply remove the offending word from the master).
The controversy
resulted in the LP being pressed in both unedited and censored versions,
with and without a gatefold (and the liner notes). Copies were also released
on both red and gold labels. An unedited CD release 20 years later also
included perceptive liner
notes written by Tyner.
A passion for the urgency and emotional potential of
music was shared by the group, a quality that had attracted both Sinclair
and Gibb. Years after the breakup of MC5, Smith would recall an anecdote
about Tyner showing how his expression would manifest itself at the most
unusual time.

"In
the late '60s, we were playing in Germany, and we all went to this bar
after the gig. Slowly, as the night grew on, it grew into this drinking
contest between us and these German guys. Once everybody got into the
spirit of the evening, it started turning into a singing contest. And,
you know, the Germans like to sing their drinking songs and all that sort
of thing. And we just sat there and kind of observed. Finally, it was
getting a little on Rob's nerves, and he stood up on top of the table,
[singing] one of the most beautiful versions of 'Georgia' I ever heard
and blew the Germans away. I think we also won the drinking contest, but
I can't remember that!"

Back
In The U.S.A. - the first studio LP for MC5 - was a challenging
learning experience for the group. Having been dropped by Elektra after
the controversy over "Jams" and the unauthorized use
of the label's logo in protesting the refusal if the local Hudson's
retail chain to carry the live LP, MC5 were in dire straits financially
and began to sense some backlash from their fan base. Though a deal with
Atlantic would eventually be inked, supposedly for $100,000, problems
continued. Mentor Sinclair, subject of frequent police harassment for
some time, was going to prison for the "crime" of marijuana
possession; further, Atlantic seemed ill-prepared to handle a rock group
with the reputation and drive of MC5.

Kramer
vividly recalled the U.S.A. period as one fraught with distractions.
"That was a tough time for the MC5. That was the point that we were
really struggling, on a personal and business level. You know, John Sinclair
had been sent to prison
right in the midst of the whole process of recording. Business-wise, we
didn't know where our next deal was coming from; we couldn't get any bookings.
Our fan base - our constituents - had all turned against us and accused
us of selling out and being 'lackeys for the pig culture.' It was a very
difficult time for the band, so I'm not surprised that the record came
out without a clear [focus]." For
U.S.A., MC5 agreed upon using novice producer Jon Landau, whose
writing talent and intellectual curiosity were acknowledged by the band,
though his abilities in the recording studio remained uncertain. At the
same time, members of MC5 were undergoing serious problems in health and
motivation, with continued drug use being one contributing factor. Dennis
Thompson recalled the attempts to change behavior toward the discipline
necessary for the recording of the LP. "We
lived in Hamburg Mich., which is a little German farming community, and
Landau had us running, like 10 laps around our circle drive, right? Eating
a high-protein diet. Well, he was trying to cure us. Before we'd get up
in the morning, he'd already blasted through The New York Times
and did the crossword puzzle."
"Before the band became politically evolved, we
were more or less a drug-free band, and you can tell the difference if
you're aware of the early MC5.... We got deeper and deeper into the quagmire,
and the music suffered as a result." Kramer
remembered the decision to work with Landau,
a decision mutual with both the label and MC5. "We all agreed. We
talked to a few other producers, and we were really trying to do our best
to connect with the music industry establishment. We really did want to
try to connect with them. Landau had written a top-secret memo where he'd
done an analysis of the MC5 for Jerry Wexler, and Wexler kind of encouraged
our working together." As a result, "...We made the best record
we knew how to make. Landau had no experience with rock bands in recording
studios, and the MC5 only had limited experience with the process of recording.
Back In The U.S.A. was learning how to make a record in a recording
studio." With a quirky song
selection, U.S.A. included both some of the best of MC5, as well
as choices that seemed intended to gain more of a pop crossover audience.
The loud and revolutionary rock, R&B and free-jazz workouts with which
the group had become associated were now glossed over at times with a
kind of AM radio-style pop feel, evident on many of the tracks on U.S.A.
This was not the relentless fire-and-brimstone of the Jams live
set, as Thompson pointed out.
"As a result, our second album came out and it
confused our first round of our audience - it was confusing. [Initially]
we were this sort of rebellious pirate crew, and now all of a sudden we're
tight... that sort of caused a bit of a fracture amongst our capabilities
of climbing the charts again. Kick Out The Jams went to #30 in
the nation, and went to #1 in many cities as a single. The follow-up single,
which was 'Tonight,' off the second record, just wasn't the Five. A little
bit of that piracy, but tight and just like you play nowadays." A
second single from U.S.A. was also released, "The
American Ruse"/"Shakin'
Street" (Atlantic 2724),
but it too failed to chart highly, not even cracking the Top 100. Thompson
felt the Landau-produced LP diluted some of the character for which the
group had become known, drawing comparisons with the growth that would
be shown on High Time, the third MC5 album.
"The way we played on High Time it should
have been the second album. [U.S.A.] almost went to bubblegum for
the 5. Had we played more on [U.S.A.] like we played on our third
album, we wouldn't have lost our continuity with our audience. We overcompensated,
and that was Landau and our combined naiveté." Though U.S.A.
includes some of the group's best work, including "Shakin' Street,"
"Tonight" and a re-recorded
"Looking At you," the inconsistencies of the LP as a whole were
part of the learning curve of a young band, Kramer noted.

"You
know, the only studio work we had done up to that point had been two or
three odd single sessions. [Some claimed] U.S.A. was too clamped-down
or it was trying to turn the MC5 into The Monkees. All these pundits.
I mean, there's a thousand versions of what happened with that record.
None of them mean anything, really."

High
Time, the band's third LP, would follow in 1971, again released
by Atlantic. More cohesive than its predecessor, High Time allowed
the band a chance to put past lessons into use, resulting in an LP that
combined older, energetic principles with a new sophistication, as Kramer
pointed out.

"By
the time we got to High Time, we'd learned enough about the process
of recording that we could really be ourselves. Sometimes you have to
go back to a real fundamental point in your learning how to swim to correct
that defect. In a lot of ways, that's what the MC5 did with Back In
The U.S.A. We had to go back and correct some fundamental defects,
so that when we got to the point of making High Time we were able
to do what it is we do, and we were able to swim a good race on that record."

Coproduced
by MC5, High Time shows the 5 in an assured, maturing mode, creatively
comfortable with the studio setting. Conceptually in part a sort of science
fiction/utopian LP, the song selection is more consistent overall than
with USA, the performances more expansive. "Sister
Ann" and "Over
And Over" - among High Time's many highlights - remain
noteworthy for featuring some of Tyner's best recorded vocal performances,
though the entire band is on target throughout. Of the unique qualities
of the three MC5 LPs, High Time still has a contemporary freshness
that later audiences would discover, perhaps too late. Due to a combination
of low initial sales and internal problems with the band, High Time
would be the final album the group would record.
During 1972 the group looked toward the hope of a new
audience, touring Europe and picking up British bassist Steve Moorhouse,
fulfilling the vacancy left by a departed Davis, whose split with the
band would become one of the circumstances leading to MC5's dissolution
later that year. The final studio recordings of the European tenure have
never been officially released, though the March 1972 Herouville Castle
studio set has been bootlegged as Thunder Express. European television
performance footage from the period shows the group still in strong form,
though Moorhouse appears slightly ill at ease; he was strictly a short-term
replacement, as MC5 disbanded later in 1972.

After
the breakup of MC5, the former bandmates ventured in opposing directions
- even involuntarily - while still individually striving toward familiar
musical goals. Throughout the 1970s Tyner fronted a series of hard rock
bands in the Detroit area, sometimes being booked at clubs under the still-marketable
(but misleading) MC5 moniker. The recent release, Rock
And Roll People - Live At The Kramer Theatre, commemorates one
such gig with a band that includes Tyner and Robert Gillespie. While the
authentic MC5 would remain severed, Tyner was one member who continued
to radiate the sort of enthusiasm that had once been part of the Michigan
music scene.
In the mid-1970s a variety of British bands would cite
MC5 as a key influence for the high-energy antics associated with the
punk movement. Tyner had a unique opportunity to view the nascent scene
firsthand and comment upon the next generation for the New Musical
Express, a successful effort that developed friendships that would
later allow Tyner the opportunity to pen the expressive liner notes for
the CD reissue of Kick Out The Jams, as Becky Tyner recalled. "Rob
met Howard Thompson in England. He was asked to come over, and he wrote
an article for the NME on punk music. He was just so delighted
to be in England, and he spent a lot of time with the Sex Pistols and
The Clash and a lot of those folks. While there he recorded a single with
a group called Eddie And The Hot Rods. That was on Island Records, and
Howard was the person that arranged and did that. They lost touch for
a bit, and Howard began working at Elektra a number of years later - he
and Rob were back in touch. As part of his work at Elektra, he took it
upon himself to facilitate the reissue of the Kick Out The Jams
record.... he invited [Rob] to do the liner notes."

During
the 1980s, Rob Tyner also assumed a production role on a single ("R.U.N.")
by the Detroit-based Vertical Pillows, then one of the few all-female
groups in the local scene and one that loudly bore allegiance to the Detroit
rock tradition. Tyner would occasionally perform five-song MC5 sets with
the Pillows at local shows, usually unannounced. Among other efforts were
the sporadic concerts held to benefit military veterans; though Tyner
and MC5 had expressed disagreement with the policies of the Vietnam conflict,
Tyner remained actively supportive of the veterans up to the time of his
death in 1991.
One of radio host Steve Kostan's fondest memories is
performing on stage with Rob at one such event, though nearly getting
hit by the singer's flying microphone! "He was generous - just a
great guy," Kostan recalled.
Tyner's final recorded effort was the Bloodbrothers
album, recorded with the group Weapons and bringing Tyner's high-energy
tendencies into a more heavy metal-styles approach. Conversely, the LP
also featured the song "Grande Days," a nostalgic tribute to
the rock ballroom that MC5 had made into their own domain and a fitting
song for his final recording.

Smith
would lend his nickname to Sonic's
Rendezvous Band, with which he performed from 1976 to 1980. Though
the lineup of the group would change during its brief run, members included
Michigan rock heavyweights such as Smith, Scott Morgan (The Rationals),
and Scott Asheton (The Stooges). Though fine, latter-day releases of Rendezvous
material have displayed greater breadth to the band, the only vinyl released
by the original group was the delicious wall-of-crunch "City
Slang" single. (The Rendezvous Band would reunite for a 1999
concert, with Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman assuming Smith's former slot.)
Smith's well-publicized marriage to longtime MC5 fan Patti Smith was followed
by the guitarist's appearance on her subsequent album. On Nov. 4, 1994,
Fred "Sonic" Smith passed away at age 44.

Michael
Davis was a member of the second incarnation of the Ann Arbor-based Destroy
All Monsters, performing alongside former Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton
and eternal chanteuse/future pop-art celebrity Niagara, beginning in the
late 70s. Previously an avant-garde collective, the group recorded a brief
string of singles before eventually evolving again, this time as Dark
Carnival. With the exception of a 1992 live appearance with former MC5
members, Davis has remained elusive for the past several years and could
not be contacted for this story.
A member of the group Tiles during the late 1970s, Thompson
has more recently been involved with the Dodge
Main CD project (along with Kramer), including the follow-up live
tour. Thompson is presently developing plans for a concept album, noting
that a number of musicians have already offered assistance with the promising
project, possibly including former bandmates.
After overcoming legal problems in the mid-1970s, Kramer
began what would become a prolific career in session work and as a solo
artist. Presently, Kramer records for the Epitaph label and maintains
involvement with a wide variety of musical
projects.

On
Feb. 22, 1992, Smith, Kramer, Thompson, and Davis performed together for
the first time in 20 years at a concert event at the State Theater in
Detroit. An indoor festival held as a memorial to Tyner, the program also
featured The Rationals, The Romantics, The Cult, and a variety of other
performers whose common interests (and life's work) included inspiration
from MC5. True to its intent, the evening was a spiritual one and a reunion
for many. But the climax of the six-hour concert was the short set by
the four surviving MC5 members that was met by an emotional crowd that
included longtime friends, family and new fans who knew only of the group's
reputation. For many, the musical highlight of the tribute was the MC5
staple "Black To Comm," composed more than 25 years earlier
by a group of teenagers in the basement of Kramer's mother's house.
Nearly three decades after the breakup of MC5, the group's
fan base continues to grow, with many younger followers born long after
the demise of the band. Previously unreleased recordings (many of which
are unauthorized), new recording projects and tours and a growing number
of Internet web sites all feed interest in MC5. Until recently, John Griffin's
celebratory MC5 tribute program on Ann Arbor's WCBN-FM had been a lifeline
to area fans and Internet habitués alike, airing hours of rare
MC5 music and interviews on the University Of Michigan station. Though
the show is presently on hiatus, its summer 1999 programs had featured
in-studio guests and interviewees such as Sinclair, Gibb, Scott Morgan,
Dick Wagner, and ex-White Panther Hiawatha Bailey.

Over
the past few years, the Chicago-based film production team of Future/Now
has effectively become the prime repository of archival MC5 film, audio
and video, integral with their continuing efforts toward completion of
a feature documentary about the group. The film, A True Testimonial,
has been in production for some time, adding new interview footage with
MC5 members and intimates and testimonials from fellow musicians attesting
to the widespread influence of the group. Director David Thomas and producer
Laurel Legler have been working on all aspects of their labor of love,
including efforts toward gaining funding trough occasional grant money
and donations in exchange for MC5 merchandise. A six-minute teaser trailer
has been previewed to great receptions at music festivals and award shows,
Thomas pointed out, and includes footage from the notorious 1968 Chicago
show. The company's web site is an essential stop for information on MC5. Present-day reissues
- including those from Sinclair's Alive/Total Energy series - continue
to draw new fans and satisfy the converted, and the three officially released
albums are still in print on CD. With
the ongoing work of Kramer, the upcoming recordings of Thompson, the exhibitions
of MC5 photographer Leni Sinclair, and the Future/Now
documentary all keeping the cause alive, it's obvious the group's popularity
hasn't subsided at all. To paraphrase the famous phrase, "Kick Out
The Jams, Motherfuckers, and stay alive with the MC5!"For more information
on Website For Future/Now, the producers of the MC5 documentary, visit
www.futurenowfilms.com[Currently offline]